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ON THE SIKHS.
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the fugitives, and bringing contributions to the force of the leader. When they were successful, the party remained located in the country which they had ravaged, and divided it among them; a larger portion of the conquered territory was set apart for the leader, but portions were distributed to every one who had taken a prominent share in the expedition. It might sometimes happen that the land itself, where left desolate and waste, constituted the allotments, but the usual plan was to leave the Rayats, whether Hindus or Mohammedans, unmolested, on consideration of their acknowledging allegiance and paying the government revenue to their new lords. In the fluctuating fortunes of the Panjáb these lordships were at first of but ephemeral duration, but as some expired or were extinguished they were replaced by others, and some of them taking permanent root survived the dependencies of the Mohammedan Governments, upon whose ruin they had risen. This was the origin of the various petty Sikh chiefships which, in the beginning of the present century, spread over the eastern portion of the Panjáb, from the Jamná to the Ravi, comprising in their subjects different races both Mohammedan and Hindu, the hereditary occupants and actual cultivators of the soil who constituted, as they still constitute, the majority of the population'.
M. Jacquemont repeatedly observes that the Mohammedans and Hindus much outnumber the Sikhs. According to Captain Lawrence, the population of the Panjáb may be loosely estimated at 1,500,000, of whom 750,000 are Hindus, 500,000 Musal
